1. What is the most valuable thing you own?

2. What makes something valuable?

3. Which is a better statement, "A penny save is a penny earned," or "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die?"

Read Luke 12:13-21. What did the man do to expand his storage capacity? Read Luke 12:18 again. What do you think of his plan on a purely practical level? Through verse 18 try to forget the point Jesus is trying to make. From a practical stand point, how do you regard the man through verse 18? Now continue reading through verse 19. How do you regard him now? What is it about his speech in verse 19 that changes your perception? God addresses the man as "Fool!" in verse 20. Read Psalm 14:1. What was the rich man forgetting? Now recall the context in which the parable was set. Read verses 13-15 again. How is the parable an answer to the questioned posed to Jesus? How does it speak to you where you are today?

Memorize Mark 8:35-36. Try to recite it everyday and notice what God is saying to you differently each day as you recite it. What is God calling you to on this particular day?

Go through your house on a regular basis and clear away the things you do not use any more and give them away.

1. How do you prepare for someone you are looking forward to coming?

2. Once that person comes, what do you do with them?

3. What is something or someone you have waited a long time for?

Memorize Luke 12:32. Repeat it every day as a part of your devotions. Then think about these questions: 1)What am I worried about this day? 2) Are any of those worries more powerful than God? 3) How does this verse speak to those worries on this day? 4) What gets in the way of me seeing your presence in my life? Then pray: Gracious God, remind me that you stand with me this day. Remind me that you have sent your Son to walk with me each and every day. Help me to get rid of the stuff in my life that keeps me from seeing your loving and caring presence in my life. Amen.

Try making the above devotional a part of your normal devotional practice.

Write a letter to someone to let them know that you are think of them and that they are in your prayers.

1. Talk about a difficult time in your life? How did you feel God present during that time?

2. Who is someone who has been a part of the "great cloud of witnesses" for you? Who is someone who has been a witness to the presence of God in your life? What was it that made them that way?

3. Why is it important to gather with other Christians on a regular basis?

For this week's devotions,g focus on Hebrews 12:1-3. As you read ask "On this day what is God saying to me? How are these words speaking to the challenges, struggles, joys, blessings in my life on this day? How is God calling me to respond to this word on this day? If possible talk with another about what you hear God calling you to do in this reading and listen to how God is working in their life through this same reading. Pray for one another based on what you heard the other saying.

Before you leave your house or your friends, give a blessing. Let them know that God is with them and will journey with them giving them what they need.

Be a support to a friend, family member, or someone else that you know that needs encouragement. Be the presence of Christ for them. Point them to the fact that as you walk alongside of them, Christ is there as well. It is how we are a part of the "great cloud of witnesses".